The Darkness Before Dawn
by WildMageKnight
Summary: Bella went to the meadow and instead of Laurent turning up, Felix and Demetri did. Now she is a vampire plagued by her missing past. Her journey takes her to new places and new covens. But she is still searching for something to fill the hole in her life.


**The Darkness before the Dawn**

Bella went to the meadow and instead of Laurent turning up, Felix and Demetri did. She was taken back to the Volturi and changed into a vampire. Something made her forget her past and now she struggles with her vampire nature, constantly plagued by the feeling that she was missing something in her life. She begins on a journey that spans over decades as she meets new people, some that spark some unwanted memories.

**Prologue - Kidnapped**

I thought that coming to our meadow would bring him back. But I was obviously mistaken. It seemed that doing something that would make him angry or worried would bring him back to me, only if it was only in my thoughts. I crumpled to the ground crying. The hole in my chest was opening wider and wider. I was contemplating the best ways to end this non-existence that I had been in since _he_ left. _Jumping off the cliffs at La Push. A bottle of sleeping pills. Charlie's gun._ Anything to release me from my own personal hell.

I didn't hear them until they were standing in front of me. I looked up into the scarlet eyes of a daemon. I gasped. I was frozen in place. I couldn't have moved, even if I had wanted to. Not that it would have made any difference as the pair of eyes belonged to a vampire and there was also a second vampire at his side. The closest vampire was built like a bear, he reminded me of Emmett. The other one was smaller in stature, but still very muscular. They both had long, straight black hair and each face housed a pair of scarlet coloured eyes.

"Demetri, doesn't she just smell mouth-watering!" chuckled the vampire in front of me. The shorter vampire apparently named Demetri, just grunted in assent.

A million thoughts rushed through my head. _No, this is not how I wanted to die. I haven't said good bye to Charlie and Renée and Phil. Or Jacob, even though he hates me right now._ That was my rational side. My irrational and sadistic side was saying, _Yes, as long as every drop is gone, then I won't have to worry about being changed. The most assured way to go. I may not drown at the bottom of the cliffs. Sleeping pills could be pumped out of my stomach at the hospital and the gun would probably miss everything vital, even if I was aiming at my head. _

"Don't do it Bella! Please!" I heard a beautiful velvet voice whisper in agony, begging. It was _his_ voice, the one I had heard while exposing myself to dangerous situations.

Before I could control my mouth, the irrational side won and I blurted out, "Take my blood. I don't have a use for it anymore. I am probably sweeter than anything you have had in a while. As long as you take it all, I will be happy."

"No!" the beautiful voice screamed in my head. I heard no other comments from my inner Edward, and I guessed that it meant that there was no turning back now. I would die and there was nothing anyone could do about that.

I closed my eyes waiting for the sharp sting at my throat and then the blissful blackness that would take me after that. I even smiled a little, thinking that my pain was over finally. But the tearing didn't come and I opened my eyes once more.

"Felix, did that human sound to you like she knew something more than the obvious?" Demetri asked. His face showing signs of amusement. There was something I was missing for sure.

"Yes, it did." Felix replied. "So tell me human," he said backing up a pace, "do you know what we are?"

"Vampires." I whispered, knowing that they would hear me, as clear as if I spoke normally.

"Hmmm. And how I wonder did you find out about this?" Felix asked.

"The Cullen coven." I said.

Demetri laughed, his eyes blazing. "Imagine that. The perfect little coven, so full of joy and love and family and respect for humanity. Breaking the sacred law and knowing the consequences. That is just to die for," he sneered. Felix joined him in his laughter, at the irony of the last comment. Demetri stared at me for what seemed like hours, but in actuality was only a couple of minutes. An expression that I couldn't name swept across his face. Felix and Demetri had a very quiet and hurried conversation. Inaudible to human ears.

"So here is how this works, sweetheart. Normally, we would kill you straight away. But I can see your potential of being one of us, an immortal butterfly. I can just imagine your scent now," he said breathing in.

I blanched. _I can't become a vampire! Doing that would extend my living hell into eternity._

"Just kill me." I said quickly, closing my eyes again, waiting.

Felix laughed again. "Not so quick there sweetheart. While as a Volturi guard, I have the right to just kill you. I see so much potential. But, if I can't convince you to change your mind, then your exquisite smelling blood might serve in placing me in the good books with the masters." He smiled wildly.

My stomach dropped when he said 'Voturi'. They were the rulers in the Vampire world, and despite hating (and loving) Edward with every fibre of my being. I realised I had unknowingly sentenced the whole family, whom I adored, except for Rosalie maybe, to some sort of punishment.

"You aren't going to punish the Cullens are you? Because me finding out about vampires wasn't their choice. I was attacked by a nomad vampire and Ed- one of the Cullens rescued me. He said he was repaying the favour as that vampire wanted to change me and that Cullen never wanted that for himself, so he stopped it happening to me. But then I knew all about vampires." I lied.

"Interesting," Demetri mused. "And where are these Cullens now?"

"Oh I don't know. They left soon after that incident. They didn't want me to become too attached to the idea of immortality, or something like that." I said, continuing the lie, hoping that they would believe me.

"I could always track them..." Demetri began.

"Yeah, you could, but I want to get back to Volterra. Besides, who knows where they are. It could take weeks to track them down." Felix whined. He turned to me and pulled me to my feet. I tried to tried to push my wrist into Felix's face to entice him to take my blood, but I tripped, in my ungraceful manner. Felix caught me and smirked. He flipped me up into his arms and it reminded me of him, the day he carried me to the sick room after the blood typing in biology.

I whimpered, "Please just kill me. I don't want to live anymore. Please, just end this." _Please, please, please, please..._ I must have been murmuring this under this under my breath, because the next thing I knew, there was a great pain in my temple and then blackness.

**Chapter 1 – Wine**

When my eyes flickered open, I found myself in a plane. I blanched when I realised that I was probably never going to see any of my family again.

"Why have you kidnapped me? Where are you taking me" I demanded.

"Oh look, sleeping beauty is finally awake." Felix said brightly from across the isle.

"We are taking you to Volterra, where you will face judgement." Demetri said darkly from somewhere at the back of the plane.

I looked around the cabin. There was only us on the plane. It was a fairly large jet, but the whole plane was decked out like first class. The chairs were reclinable and they could swivel towards the aisle. There was also a bar, which I couldn't fathom the purpose of. Looking toward the cockpit, I was wondering if the pilot was human or vampire.

"He's a vampire." Felix said, noticing the direction of my gaze. "We employed him as a human, like many of the servants at Volterra. They work hard and when the reach the end of their usefulness we eat them and employ others. Some though, they serve their purposes well enough, and we grant them with immortality. That one, Frederico, he flies our planes. We changed him so that he would not have to worry about unnecessary human needs. Speaking of which, are you hungry or thirsty?"

"I am a little hungry." I said while my stomach was growling at me.

"Great!" Felix said, his face lighting up. He handed me a grocery bag full of food. I ate a packet of chips and a sandwich, not really taking notice of the flavour. A skill I had acquired in my zombie state. I also drank a bottle of coke.

"I don't know how humans can even stand the smell of that god awful stuff." Demetri said, coming up the aisle. He made his way toward a small bar fridge behind the bar. He took out four, dark glass bottles. He sauntered back towards Felix and I and sat down, swivelling towards us. As he passed two of the bottles to Felix, I noticed that they contained a dark thick liquid. I quickly realised that the bottles were filled with human blood. I stared at the two vampires, shocked.

Felix noticed my shocked expression. "What it is a long flight, and your sent is making us a little crazy. Better these, than you." He quickly downed a bottle. He was so quick that the scent of human blood did not reach me. Still the sight of human blood made me feel queasy, as my brain conjured up what it would smell like. I mumbled something about a bathroom and got up and headed toward the back of the plane. I found the bathroom. I entered and locked the door, not that the lock would make a difference if the vampires had wanted to enter.

The full weight of my situation hit me. I was heading toward my death. I would never see Charlie, Renée, Phil or Jacob again. I was devastated. I couldn't tell them one more time, how much I loved them. I couldn't tell them sorry for the mess that my life had become. _ I am so sorry. I will miss you all. I will never forget you._ I thought, tears streaming down my face.

I must have fallen asleep in the bathroom, because when I next opened my eyes, I was once again in Felix's arms. It felt like we were flying. He was gliding through the dark halls of what I assumed was Volterra. We stopped in what looked to be a reception area. Felix put me down on a very soft, blood-red coloured couch and Demetri went over to the desk and spoke to the woman sitting behind it. I did a double take. The woman at the desk was human. I knew Felix said that the Volturi employed humans, but it was unbelievable to think that she could work so comfortably, so close to immortal beings that will drink her dry when she exceeds her usefulness.

"A fine wine growing sweeter with age." Felix purred in my ear, looking over at the bottle-bleached blonde. "In about a year or so, we will need a new receptionist." He chuckled darkly. I shuddered.

"You wouldn't consider changing her?" I asked, hopeful that he had an ounce of humanity left in him.

"Nah, there are plenty more where she came from."

"So there isn't much hope for me is there? I'll be dead within the hour?"

"I thought you wanted to die?" he countered, but before I could continue he added, "There is always hope beautiful."

Demetri re-entered the room. I hadn't even noticed he had left. "They will see us now." He turned and walked through two massive doors. Felix and I followed him.

To say the room was massive would have been a gross understatement. It was easily the size of a football field. Towards the back of the hall there was a dais with three thrones. The hall was extravagant, but not nearly enough to rival the three vampires sat on the thrones. They all looked extremely old, despite their physical ages being stuck in their mid-thirties. Despite the room containing more than a handful of vampires, sparkling in the sunlight that streamed down through the high windows, I couldn't drag my eyes away from the three striking figures. The middle one stood up as we came closer. His jet-black hair matched his robes. The vampire on the left also had long black hair, but the one on the right had snow white hair that matched his translucent skin.

"Demetri, Felix, back so soon. And you brought me a gift. How lovely." The standing vampire said with much enthusiasm.

Despite stumbling once and catching myself before I fell on my face, we reached the dais without anyone speaking a word. I had been so wrapped up in my assessment of the ancient vampires that I hadn't noticed that the soft conversations of the other immortals in the room had ceased when we had entered. Felix and I stopped at the foot of the stairs but Demetri continued until his hand rested in the tall vampire's hand.

They were like this for a just under a minute. Before I could figure out what was happening, Demetri retracted his hand and came back to stand on my left.

"That was a very interesting tale, my dears." He said, looking intently at the two vampires on either side of me. I then noticed that his red eyes were milky and wondered if it affected his sight. I also realised that he had been reading Demetri's mind

"I am fascinated to know that she could block your gift. I wonder..." He trailed off, his eyes glinting with curiosity. He beckoned to me, "Come here child, give me your hand."

He was the kind of person that always got want he wanted, so I felt I had no choice but to comply. I nervously went up the stairs and placed my hand in his stone cold, un-dead hand. He held my hand for a little longer than he held Demetri's. I had been studying his face. The emotions visible through his eyes were that of first bewilderment, then frustration and then finally amazement.

"My brothers, this is truly a wonder. My gift does not work on her and neither does Demetri's and she is human. I wonder if a physical gift would work?" He was lost in thought for a number of seconds.

"Yes they do. A vampire I knew before, could affect someone's emotions and his gift was physical. He affected my emotions all the time." I said quietly to the ground.

He muttered something under his breath, too quick and too quiet for me to understand. Then the vampire with white hair called out, "Aro she knows too much and her gift is useless. Her scent is so sweet. I could use a good meal."

I badly wanted that white haired vampire to just take me. I wanted to be rid of this agony. A very small part of me reared its head. It wanted me to survive.

There was a vampire down there and by her looks and her size, she would have been about 13 or 15 when she was changed. She wore a dark robe like the one that Felix and Demetri wore. The cloak covered most of her body but her face and her hands were in the sun. The light hit her skin and danced all over the courtyard. She could do this because the courtyard was in the middle of the castle and unseen by the public eyes. She was so young, I felt sorry for her. She looked almost peaceful, basking in the sun. Felix came and joined me at the window.

"That's Jane. She is the biggest asset to the guard. But she has a temper that far exceeds the angriest vampire. Her gift matches her temper. But enough of that, the doctor will arrive soon –"

"What did you say?" I interjected, shocked. _ Carlisle is here?_ I thought the shock and panic increasing.

" A doctor. It is funny that you are scared of a human doctor but aren't scared of Aro, possibly to scariest of all the masters." He chuckled. I sighed in relief. If the Cullens had been here I didn't know what I would do. Even now, their name brought on a pain I could hardly endure.

"Oh, I am scared of Aro. I was so scared that I couldn't do anything. I was frozen." I retorted.

" Well that's good. But anyway, this doctor will come soon. He will spend the next few weeks drawing your blood."

I interjected again, "What do you mean drawing my blood?"

"Do you remember the bottles on the plane that you obviously objected to?" I nodded in assent. " Well let's just say that you will make a fine wine for Aro, Caius and Marcus."

"Do you mean they will drain my blood and put it a wine bottle? That's disgusting!" I said, horrified.

Felix chuckled darkly, "The last time we had someone that smelled this good, changed, Aro kept a bottle for him to drink when he was a newborn. He didn't find out till much later that it was his own blood he drank. He was disappointed that they wasted it during his newborn years when he couldn't appreciate it."

"Oh god, that is sick. I don't know how I feel about being a dinner snack for that twisted bunch of ancient dead –" Before I could continue my list of profanities, the aforementioned doctor entered. He was attractive for a middle aged man, but then I noticed that his eyes were hollow and his hair was greasy. I decided that I didn't like this doctor and he did not compare to my previous doctor. We went through the motions of introductions and setting up his equipment. Felix said goodbye and told me that he would come see me again soon.

The process of drawing my blood was relatively painless, only because I fainted after smelling my blood. We were not even two minutes into the procedure. When I woke, the doctor was gone with all the equipment, but some evidence of my ordeal was not. I had a tap in my arm that indicated that it was not the last time I would suffer this fate. I was too lethargic from blood loss to move from the bed. I finally moved when my bladder forced me to get to the bathroom. I noticed that it was dark outside my window and realised that I had no idea what the time or date was.

My recovery lasted a few days and I was becoming strong enough to get up and walk around. I was feeling pretty lonely though. Felix hadn't come back yet and the only contact I had had with living or otherwise was the boy that brought my daily meal. I tried to get him to talk to me but I think he was too scared. After my 5 day recovery the doctor returned.

This pattern continued, blood draining then 5 days recovery, with the only interruption of my solitude being the doctor and the meal boy. I gave up counting after the 12th time. The only relatively interesting thing that I discovered was that the meal delivery boy was also the vampire Jane's lover. I tried to ask him was it was like or even why he did it, but he either was too embarrassed or two scared to talk. I did realise though, that he was hoping to be changed himself from the jealous looks he gave me. I guessed that that was the reason he put him the Jane's temper. (Which everyone heard a few weeks ago. She was displeased about something.) He probably hoped that his relationship with Jane would help him achieve his goal.

I used to want to be a vampire so that I could be with Edward forever, but now i don't think that I want it. I was so depressed at this point. So many months had passed in this room that time had lost all meaning. I was also in a constant state of exhaustion from blood loss. I wasn't fed enough, so I was sure that I was now anaemic and seriously lacking in many vitamins and other things. I was becoming quite sick. From time that Edward had left me to when I was found my Felix and Demetri, I had lost 7kgs. I had now lost a further 10 kgs. I decided that this had gone far enough.

The meal boy, whose name I discovered the other day was Dean, had just left. Which meant that no-one would enter this room again until the next day. This would be my end. I felt almost relieved that it was going to be over. A very small part of me was sad that I would die in this room so far away from all that I had known and loved. But, I was resigned. I stepped into the bath and put the plug in. I knew that it wouldn't take long. I still fainted at the smell of my blood, even after all this time, so I would pass out long before I actually died. I knew that my death would be painless.

I turned the tap that was still attached in my arm. My blood very quickly began to run down my arm and into the bath. The plug would collect it so that I could give one more service to Aro and his minions. My eyes began to droop as my body registered the loss of blood. Despite not thinking about him for months, my last conscious thought was about Edward. I smiled for the first time since Jacob had made me smile all of those months ago. I heard his voice.

"I love you. I am so sorry I left you. Bella you are my life. I love you. I am sorry my love."

I faded.

**Chapter 3: Dead**

I woke up. This surprised me as I was supposed to never wake up again. I frowned in disappointment. I tried to figure out what I did wrong. I noticed that the tap had been removed from my arm. This made me feel slightly better.

"Yes, you wont be pulling that stunt again." This voice made me jump. I looked into the shadows. Felix came out of my closet. "I can't believe that you tried to kill yourself. It almost gave me a heart attack, if that is even possible for a vampire, when I saw you in the bath in a pool of your own blood. Why kill yourself when you have so much to live for?"

My mood darkened. "As if you even care, in all the time I have been here, you never came to visit me. Not once. If you had, you would have realised how sick I am right now and how over living this non-existence I am. I haven't left this room since I got here and most of the time I am too weak to even leave this bed. So don't talk to me about living. There is nothing to live for here."

"I do care! I was under orders not to come into your room. I wanted to, but you do not refuse the masters, so I sat outside it sometimes. I liked to listen to you hum to yourself. You do have something to live for. You are going to be changed. Isn't that a good enough reason to live?"

I could see that he was truthful, but I avoided his question, because I am not sure that he would like my answer.

"How did you resist killing me if I was still alive with blood pouring out of my arm?"

He shifted his weight and wrung his hands nervously.

"Spit it out Felix."

"Well, I was sitting outside and I began to smell blood. I didn't hear you hurt yourself and I knew the doctor wasn't there because I never come when the doctor is around. Your blood makes me a little crazy. But I resisted and quickly found the doctor. The doctor removed the tap and closed the wound. Holding my breath, which was very difficult, I put you under the shower to wash off the blood, then put you on the bed. The doctor made sure that you were alive. He said something really insensitive and I snapped. It made me so angry. I finished him off. In my bloodlust I smelled you but the bath full of blood was thankfully a stronger scent. I am ashamed to say that I drank it. You had very kindly put the plug in."

He looked at me to see my reaction. But I was so shocked that my face was probably blank.

"I won't lie to you, it was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted but I felt bad after I had drunk it, because I know that you felt disgusted when I mentioned the blood in a bottle thing. I consider you a friend, if that is even possible for you to accept, so I feel bad. I will understand if you are horrified at the sight of me, but I just wanted to tell you myself so that you knew the truth about my side of the story and so I could ask for your understanding and if at all possible, for your forgiveness."

He actually looked remorseful and I couldn't deny that he had been very kind to me on my trip to Volterra.

"I understand and I don't blame you for something you could not help. So can you hang out with me now? Or will you be abandoning me too?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh well, I was dating Edward Cullen, but he left me. He told me that I wasn't good enough for him, which I understood, he told me that he didn't want me anymore and he abandoned me." I promised myself that I wouldn't cry, but I couldn't help myself. Every time I thought about him, I would cry and feel like my chest had caved in. I collapsed, but before I was on the floor, I was in Felix's arms. I felt safe, well safer in his arms then I had since I had arrived at Volterra. Nothing compared to how I felt with Edward, but he was gone now. Now there was Felix.

"So what happens now?" I asked through sobs. "Are they going to keep me locked up in here?"

"No sweet, not for much longer. Aro will be coming around tomorrow afternoon. He will change you then. He had been meaning to do it months ago, but Caius convinced him that you could survive longer. He thought that you would serve a greater purpose that way, than changing you. Aro didn't agree with him but was waiting for an opportune moment to change you, to appease his brother.

You have a gift, sweet one, one that interests Aro, but it is not always certain that a human's gift will manifest in the way that they hope. Aro believes that your gift will be very strong, one that will benefit the guard. He was not impressed with the stunt you tried to pull and neither was I, but you did give Aro an excuse to change you, so it will happen tomorrow after meal time." He grinned.

He went on to explain that the transformation will take about three days and that it will fell like my whole body is on fire. I told him that I didn't want to talk about that, so talked about his childhood in northern Italy, over 500 years ago. He was the son a very wealthy lord. He was a younger son, though, so he would not inherit. He was married off to a younger princess of the Italian royalty. The royals had wanted to strengthen the family's loyalty to the crown.


End file.
